A Dream to Chase... A Path to Get There...
by Kajex Firedrake
Summary: Solitude has always been Legend's specialty, but a fast friendship with a new student leads to both their goals... if only they can depend on each other.


A Dream to Chase, a Path to Get There  
  
  
  
"When… when I was a cub… my friends and I made up our own little group… we made a clubhouse out of metal we found at the junkyard… we had a small electric generator in the middle of it, and we'd sit there, talk about what we'd do when we grew up… I would become a pilot… some of my friends would be ground troops… one of them even wanted to go so far as to be a tactical officer… at the time, I had no idea what the hell that could mean… but it surely did sound good.  
  
The reality of war didn't hit me, even when war finally came. By now, the first Androssian invasion had been fought and gone for nearly ten years. The group responsible for the victory, StarFox, had disbanded and settled down. Most everyone knew about the kid that Fox and Fara McCloud had. I didn't know the kid at all. Face it; even though he and I were born at around the same time (certainly the same year), he would've been on Corneria… while I'd be stuck on the dusty dunes of Katina.  
  
And then…  
  
War came again.  
  
Venom decided to re-clone Andross once more- where they got the materials to do so again, no one knew at all. NOVA had gotten back up on its feet, having been ignored ever since its former leader, Andrew Oikonny, had been killed by a former Venom clone. But now, with a new leader exactly the same as before, war would come again.  
  
He was-'born'-the same time I was.  
  
And, at the age of 11, he decided to go on ahead and invade Lylat once more.  
  
The fighting took only 24 hours. There were many casualties, one of them being my father. Millions of civilians were forced to flee as Corneria City was the first to fall. The former CAF's airbases at their disposal, they unleashed a rain of fire, and by the time a week had gone by, the military officials of Corneria, along with many civilians, pilots and soldiers, were forced to leave the planet and set up a government in exile.  
  
Even then, the reality of war didn't hit me fully. The loss of my father seemed to be the last thing on my mind. Certainly, I had wept and mourned for him… but it wasn't as if it made me change my ideas about war in general…  
  
Chapter 1- An End to Solitude  
  
  
  
Fatigue and restlessness were complete opposites, but Legend felt both at once. There was the tired soul within him that longed to rest, and then there was the nearly uncontrollable desire to do something. But with nothing to keep him interested, all he could do was remain seated. The cheetah yawned, showing razor sharp fangs for a moment before his lips replaced themselves within the area they usually were. He buried his muzzle into his arms, folded upon his desk, and in this position, tried to keep his eyes open. He found this extremely difficult and felt his eyelids drooping slowly.  
  
His breathing became slower and, having refrained from keeping his head up, slowly drifted off. The first images of shapeless colors took form in his mind, as he began to dream an unknown dream. His eyes finally closed completely, blocking all view from the outside. He was very tired. A rest, he thought, would not be a bad idea…  
  
Before he could proceed to dream, his name rang out in the form of a sharp and stern voice. Immediately, he snapped his head upwards, alert and ready. Any indication of fatigue was erased from his visage, and was replaced by a false sense of understanding as to what was going on. He looked around the classroom to see if anybody had seen him at all…  
  
And instead found no one, save his instructor, was there.  
  
The golden retriever before him shook her head. "This is the sixth time you've fallen asleep in class, Legend. You didn't even notice that the period was over." Her sharp and stern tones were gone, and were replaced with a kindly, concerned volume. She sat in a desk next to his. He had picked up his gym bag and was starting to move hurriedly.  
  
Before he could begin to get up, she put a paw on his. "Hold it, Legend. Don't think that I'm going to let you go that easily when you've been nodding off in class. You can't be doing this anymore, Legend, and you know that…"  
  
The cheetah sighed, nodded. "I know, I know, ma'am…"  
  
She tilted her head to one side. "Is there something bothering you at all?"  
  
Legend looked up, shook his head. "No… not really…"  
  
She peered close at him. " 'Not really' is an answer that means that something is bothering you, big or small…"  
  
Legend looked downwards. "It's just that… well…my dad and all…"  
  
She nodded. "I see… but it can't be just that, Legend. He's been… well… he's been gone for about 7 years. I mean no offense, but I'd have thought you would have let it go already. There has to be something else bothering you…"  
  
Legend looked at her, glad that she was willing to help, but, shook his head sadly and sighed again. "I'm sorry, ma'am… but I can't tell you… it's something I'm not sure you'd understand."  
  
She nodded. "I understand, then, if you wish not to talk about it." She got up, and patted his back. "Still, I hope you can keep your head up in class. You've been earning the top grades in this academy, but I don't want you to get to a point where everyone finds out that one of the brightest students in our class also happens to be a partial dozer."  
  
Legend smiled at her. "Thanks." He got up. "Better be off. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he picked up his bag and slung it over his left shoulder, then gave a final nod to his instructor and left the class.  
  
  
  
Upon exiting, he became blinded by the light, which was extremely bright considering how dim the interior of his classroom had been. Dozens of other students were passing along the campus grounds, heading for lunch. Legend began to stride fast, but abandoned all hope of getting any food and instead just sighed and shook his head. There would be no getting to it today. Once the line filled, there was no chance for him to grab a meal. Going hungry, it seemed, would be a fate he'd have to deal with for the day.  
  
He broke off and instead headed towards the fields. There was a park, of sorts, small, compared to other such established grounds, but a place where he could at least do some thinking, and that was not, he knew, something that a normal person did during meal hours. Still, with nothing to eat, there was little else he could do, except some art- but that was all.  
  
He got there long after he had started thinking to himself (which he normally did sitting down), and paid no heed to the others there- lovebirds, study groups and troublemakers alike, they remained outside the shell that was Legend's thoughts. He strode on quietly in a slow pace, looking at the ground and reflecting for a moment, before he decided to look around and find a tree or something where he could put his back up against.  
  
He found one, a good distance away from any other people, and that was good. What Legend was into was something he found that very few could be impressed with. It was either "be impressed" or "be mocked" when it came to the school… and though not everyone had seen his art, that didn't mean that they would fully accept it. Better to be known as a know-it-all and leave it at that. Solitude was his best chance at achieving such a goal. He made for it, in a quick pace, hoping no one else would spot it and take it for their selves.  
  
He lay back against the tree, sighing quietly. While Katina itself was not a fully vegetation-abundant planet, it did have its variety of trees and grasses and while not green, the orange tint did not imply any amount of dryness. This fresh smell seemed to awaken him, and he was no longer as tired as before. It seemed that, there was little reason to remain alert in class, and more of a reason to be so at any other time. He dug into his pack and extracted a green book. Taking a pencil from his pocket, he flipped the pages open.  
  
A wide variety of patterns and shapes, all combined to form images of landscapes, people, place and things, were drawn into many of the pages of the book. He gazed at a few of them, impressed that, once upon a time, he had been that bad. His style always improved in one way or another, and this act of looking at his artwork and being repulsed by earlier work was just another way he excelled himself. He scanned the book until he got to an empty page.  
  
He looked around with his left eye, the right hidden behind a crop-full of hair, trying to locate a subject to draw. Acute eyesight gliding across what there was to see, he found very little to draw (unless it was a couple making out, but, out of 6 people he saw right off, they were all doing the same thing). Troublemakers seemed to be always in motion, whether it was being in fistfights or trying to conceal some type of drugs. And the study groups only earned indifference from him.  
  
Finally, his eye rested on a female jackal. He blinked for a moment. She, like him, was remaining in solitude of her own, eyes closed and thoughts probably in turmoil. He had never seen this person before, and he wondered if maybe she was a student from another grade, possibly higher than his own. He doubted it, but he figured that he would've seen her if she was in his graduation year.  
  
Nevertheless, he found her nice to look at. She was neither stick thin or slim-and-sexy, but she was… normal. She had a pair of glasses that seemed a little loose on her muzzle, as the rim was a bit small for the top of her muzzle and seemed to be drooping forward. Her brown hair fell behind her shoulder, and a few strands that were clumped together fell in front of her closed eyes. She wore a brown jacket, and with it were a pair of jeans. The jacket seemed a bit too large for her, and Legend assumed that this article of clothing was from a close friend of hers- perhaps her boyfriend. At first glance, one might've thought she was asleep, but Legend could almost sense her sheer loneliness. She had her knees up to her chest, as if guarding herself from something, and had her chin resting upon them.  
  
But after a minute or two of staring, he took his eyes off her and shook his head. And who was he to be of any company, he wondered. About the best he could do was to say 'hello' and then run off feeling like an idiot and about to die from sheer shock of the stunt. And he was not ready to do such a thing (nor was he ready to die, mentally, physically or metaphorically).  
  
Yet, even as he looked away, the image stuck in his mind. He picked up the pencil and began an outline. His memory unusually photographic, he sketched her eyes first. They were closed, and for a moment, he wondered what color her eyes were. Before he could let this question bother him, he set into his work further. He drew out the shape of her muzzle, her nose, her thin eyebrows, and her fur pattern. The pencil flowed across the paper, leaving traces of lead behind it. Her knees were drawn close to her chest, and he made the curve of her breasts noticeable, but not fully standing out. Her hair was easy for him, since it stood out more than her posture or her clothing, as did her eyes and face in general. He worked slowly, and surely, never looking up from the work, somehow addicted to the drawing, as he had been with all his art.  
  
Before long, he sensed the presence of someone nearby. He stopped at once, and began to look up slowly, scanning upwards until he met with the eyes of the person.  
  
Standing before him, the female jackal stood. She had crouched down and was looking at the sheet of paper that he had been working on. She tilted her head trying to distinguish whom it was that he had drawn. When he began to look up, she did the same, and they met eyes at the same moment. He found that they were a soft tan, with a gleam of some amount of inner strength in them.  
  
When she did, it was about a second before she drew back. "Oh! Sorry about that…" She smiled sheepishly and stood straight. "I was just wondering what you were doing."  
  
Legend didn't say anything for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Due to this, she must have gotten the impression that he wasn't happy, and her smile faded. Before it could go away completely, he spoke.  
  
"No problem," he said quietly, though with a clear voice.  
  
She leaned forward, peering at the drawing. "Who… who was that you were drawing?"  
  
Legend sighed. "You, actually. You were the only person I could find who wasn't making out with anybody, or causing any trouble, to be honest." He said this with a forced smile.  
  
She looked closer, shook her head, pushing her glasses back. "That…can't be me at all. I don't look anything like that…" She looked up at him, trying to find clarification in his voice, when he would answer. "…Do I?"  
  
Legend shrugged. "I draw only what I see. Maybe not the truth, but what I see."  
  
She smiled, and then returned to looking at the drawing. "It's good… you have a talent for this." She looked up suddenly, laughing somewhat. "Oh… again, I'm sorry; I haven't even introduced myself at all!" She stuck out her paw. "I'm Terra Anubis."  
  
Legend shook her paw. "Legend Paladin."  
  
"Legend? That's a nice name." She indicated a spot underneath the tree. "Would you mind if I sat here?"  
  
He blinked, but did not blurt out curtly that he wished to remain alone. And he certainly wouldn't have minded her sitting around him. He nodded. "You can take a seat. I don't have anybody that comes here."  
  
She sat down, nodding. "You too, huh? Jeez, it's hard to find a person to meet here, especially in the middle of the academy semester."  
  
He raised is visible eyebrow. "You're new here?"  
  
She nodded. "I'm new to the training, period. I was registered in the middle of the year, of all times. I dunno what's even going on, or…" She stopped short, seeming a little embarrassed.  
  
He pressed on. "What else is it?"  
  
She lowered her voice. "Well… I don't even know how to fly, either…" She winced, expecting him to laugh.  
  
Legend was not in any mood to do so, and in any other mood, he probably would not have. He only shook his head and smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it. More than half the students here that are training to be pilots don't know how to 'fly', per se… If you call being behind a throttle and joystick and jinking side to side while being fired upon simultaneously flying, then my art is the worst in the system."  
  
She shook her head. "No, it's not."  
  
"My point exactly," Legend responded, laughing a little and provoking a smile from Terra. "It's easy though, if you try not to follow the cheap techniques that others will try."  
  
She smiled. "I'll try to remember that." She reached into her pack, took out a sandwich containing some sort of meat. "I was here yesterday, and I saw the lunch-lines… I figured that I'd rather try walking past a highway before I go there." She chewed off a piece of it.  
  
"One reason I stay away from the lines, sometimes," he said, nodding. "You'll find yourself wondering if your feet are even touching the ground, the way it gets all crowded."  
  
"Tell me about it," she said, sighing. "Another reason I found myself straying from them is that everybody seems to be unconcerned of running all over me… and everybody seems to be too self-confident or snobby… It makes me feel… out of place." She smiled her embarrassed smile. "I feel like such a geek sometimes… I used to in my regular schooling, too."  
  
He closed his book, leaning forward. "What got you into this academy, anyway? I must admit… you don't look like the type who'd want to fight anybody. No offense, though."  
  
She shook her head. "None taken. It's just that my gun wielding, trigger- happy, soldier of a dad thought I should come here and learn about fighting. He thinks I'm weak, sometimes. I don't like it at all, and I wanted to prove him wrong… just not in this way."  
  
He nodded. "I understand that… I felt like I could prove myself to my own father, and that doing it in this way would help. But, to each their own, I suppose," he said, shrugging. "It won't matter. Weak or not, you'll be in top shape and flying like the best soon enough."  
  
She smiled. "Thanks."  
  
He nodded. "What class year are you, by the way?"  
  
"I'm at the Junior level, simply because of my age and my bad luck of being smart enough to advance myself to the level without even getting the first few months of training."  
  
"Really? I'm at that level, as well. Would you mind if I took a look at your schedule?"  
  
She nodded, digging into her pocket, taking out a small card and handing it to Legend. "Go on ahead. I know where my classes are, though, so if you want, you can keep it or throw it away."  
  
Legend wasn't listening at this point, though. The arrangement of his classes was interesting- they were exactly his own. That wasn't surprising, in reality, since there were others who shared the same schedule. She must have noticed his sudden interest, because she frowned at his amazed look. "Is something wrong? You seem, well, a little appalled."  
  
Legend shook his head. "Far from it, actually. These classes are the best you can take and learn quickly from… and that's the reason I chose them all, as well… and why they're in the same order, I don't know."  
  
Terra blinked. "You're joshing with me, right?"  
  
Legend shook his head. "I don't normally- and I never learned how to josh someone correctly," he added with a grin.  
  
She remained silent for a moment, then smiled. "Wow… then… I don't suppose could tag along with you then?" She grinned her sheepish grin once more. "I could really use escort, and more than that, someone to talk to."  
  
Curious, these new turn of events were to him- only minutes before, he had condemned himself from being company to anybody, simply because he figured that he'd be a terrible choice for such a thing. Now up came somebody who was new and alone, asking him to be of some company.  
  
Had he possession of tangible control over any of his subconscious actions, he would have more than likely ceased from nodding his head in acknowledgement. As it was, by the time he had done so, it was far too late to make up for it, and the best he could do was mentally slap himself in the forehead and try not to look like he was regretting it. It was not the girl that was troubling him- it was himself.  
  
Nevertheless, the smile she gave in response to his answer made him feel better about the whole thing, and the fact that the lunch period was still in session for another few minutes was comforting still.  
  
She moved a little closer to him and leaned forward. "That book; is that where you keep your art?"  
  
He nodded. "I usually keep it away from others. Least I won't have to play 'Jump-for-it' with anybody else. I've done it once, and the only way I was able to solve it was in a violent measure… I don't like doing that at all, and I'll avoid it if I can." He sighed. "Nobody seems to be appreciative of what I draw."  
  
"Well," Terra answered, "if it makes any difference at all, I think your art is great. It makes me wonder why anybody else doesn't sit with you, as you claim."  
  
Legend shrugged. "There is one person who appreciates the way I draw, but I don't talk to him very often. He's okay as somebody to say 'hi' to, but in regards as to having him as a friend, he does it less than I do." He smiled back. "Thanks, though. I wish I could find some approval from more people. Still, you've helped me out some."  
  
"I'm glad I could," she said. "I'm also glad for other things, too."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
She smiled. "Having found a friend."  
  
He looked up into her eyes for a moment, and then found himself looking away, becoming inwardly glad. "Well… I'm glad I could help, too." He tucked the book into his bag. "So… I'll have been the first person you've met here on campus?"  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, actually… it seemed like you wanted to be alone though, before you started drawing, so I didn't want to intrude on anybody's solitude. I couldn't help but feel a little lonely, though. Thanks for letting me sit here, by the way."  
  
He shrugged. "No problem. The company isn't that bad, to tell you the truth. And besides," he added, "I wouldn't mind having a friend on my already-too-tiny list of such people."  
  
She nodded, taking a sip from a container she had brought with her. "So, how long have you been here, Legend?"  
  
"Since I was 15, actually. About two years, adding in the summer vacations they throw in. I came in partly because of…" He trailed off, realizing that he had spoken a bit too fast, too soon. He shook his head. "Well, it's something I don't like discussing. But I've always loved flying, and I decided to give this my best shot."  
  
She nodded. "I actually like flying, as well… thing is, I wouldn't know how to do it myself. It's got to be very hard, I'm sure…"  
  
"In a sense, it can be hard. But if your own father was a former smuggler, you'd learn quite a few tricks early in your life."  
  
"Your father was a smuggler?"  
  
He nodded. "Before he became a pilot for the air force, he was taking on smuggling jobs to help the war effort the first times they were trying to take down Andross. I learned some pretty good tricks from him." He leaned back. "Only a few people here know how to do some of them… and the keyword there is some. And even fewer know how to outdo them, much less outdo them correctly."  
  
She smiled. "You seem to know how flying works. You… wouldn't mind if you could help me, would you? I'd feel better knowing that someone here knows how things work."  
  
Legend paused, then nodded. "I wouldn't mind a bit," he answered truthfully.  
  
Just then, the bell rang. Legend looked up and smiled.  
  
"Well," he said, grinning. "I'll help you with your first class, then." 


End file.
